DH left me NOTHING in his will – devastated and fuming

how do you know she hasn’t contributed to financially?

o/p hasn’t said. So how do you know?

how do you know he wasn’t retired and she was working to pay the bills? How do you know he wasn’t left with a huge mortgage post divorce which she’s paid?

come on then, show your working.

Why not?

you have no idea whether she’s paid for it or has contributed at all. Why do you assume she’s been some sort of freeloader and moved into his completely mortgage free house?

especially as she’s now a lone parent with young children. Who’s going to pay the mortgage for the next 20 years? That’s right, she is.

you’re suggesting she doesn’t get a share of the house she’s more than likely paid for and contributed to, and will keep on doing so.

the children from his first marriage will inherit the house he owned with his first wife. Why should they get a share of two houses, leaving a woman who’s financially invested with nothing and the children of the second marriage with half their inheritance?

Not for a house she didn't contribute to financially. No. All his children, yes.

Not a typo. No, the wife should not receive any money from the house. Just the children.

I assume that was a typo and should read “not just the wife”

That is not what the law says, at least in England (where OP is)

And do you really think a long-standing wife should be entitled to nothing?

She “can” doesn’t mean that she is legally required to.

People who enter relationships of this kind, where there are existing children, need to be much more careful and really consider this situation. There should be legal requirements to meet with a solicitor to create a will.

All his children should receive equally. That’s very unlikely to happen. She seems very reticent to give them anything. Never mind writing a will so that they benefit equally with her children when she dies.

Also, we have no idea about the age gap between her and them.

All his children should get equal shares of the house. Just not the wife.

This is literally the point of a will. If she remarries she can make a will saying what happens to the money. Marriage only nulls it if the will was written before.

What if she remarried and dies before the second husband?

Then her second husband inherits everything from the first husband and the first husband’s kids get nothing.

OP, you need to proceed with this with your husband’s wishes in mind. He would want his older children to have a decent amount. He would want all his children to benefit equally.

Consider what you’d want to happen if your children had been the first set.

The good thing about this situation is that it doesn’t depend on what anyone wants or thinks he would have wanted. There are clear rules on how the estate will be divided. OP, as soon as you know where you stand, please write your own will.

From GOV.UK advise for England and Wales, deaths after July 2023.

If the estate is worth up to £322,000
The husband, wife or civil partner gets all of the estate and is entitled to apply for probate.

If the husband, wife or civil partner died after the deceased, their share will become part of their own estate.

If the estate is worth over £322,000
The estate will be divided between the husband, wife or civil partner and the children of the deceased.

The husband, wife or civil partner gets:

up to £322,000 in assets, and half of the rest of the estate
all of the personal possessions of the deceased
The children of the deceased are entitled to a share of the half of the estate above £322,000.

If any of the children died before the deceased, their children (grandchildren of the deceased) will inherit in their place.

If any of these grandchildren died before the deceased, their children (great-grandchildren of the deceased) will inherit in their place.

If any of these people died after the deceased, their share will become part of their own estate.

The OP is looking at a considerable bill for IHT if there was no trust provision made.

Depends on the size of the estate - bear in mind there’s no IHT when assets go to a spouse

I'm losing the plot with Mumsnet.
Especially on the following two points

• get married as it protects you as his wife
• you can't expect to inherit anything (as a child)

Unless he was forced to marry her which sounds unlikely as they were married for a long time and had two children why shouldn't she get the protection of marriage? She was/is his wife of course she gets the same rules as the first wife. For her not to sounds like something out of the Handmaid's Tale.

Secondly. Why do the children the first Mariage get everything? This is not the rules in court, all children are treated equally. It's a made up rule your pushing on the OP.

Mumsnet posted a comment to say that they'd reinstated the thread.

This was deleted for being a troll thread. It's total bollocks. 4 threads later (same author)....

Unless I'm missing something, why would there be inheritance tax? The OP's husband could leave £325k free of tax to whomsoever he pleased, whether by will or through the intestacy provisions. Over and above that everything he leaves to his spouse is free of IHT. So if the OP gets £322k + 50% of what remains, there's no tax on any of that, and it doesn't sound as if the remainder will exceed £325k.

The OP is looking at a considerable bill for IHT if there was no trust provision made.

On top of that unless there are other savings she will have to sell the house in order to free up the older children's share of the estate.

That's if the older children don't have an updated will of course.

Why should a spouse not be entitled to anything?

Very interesting, but the OP didn't ask for views on what should happen, she wants to know the legal position, which is as set out dozens of times on this thread. She inherits the bulk of her husband's assets. It's then up to her who to leave her money too in due course.

Thankfully your opinion doesn’t get taken into account.

So they get screwed.

I don't think you should be entitled to anything. It should go to his children - the ones from his first marriage and the ones you had together. you should be able to live in the home until your joint children are 21 but after that the assets should be distributed between the children.

This! Seek legal advice immediately

@AchNo my relative wasn't the nice one, he was the idiot who didn't make another will! His third wife/widow, on the other hand, was lovely.

Although I do think it was easier for her to make those decisions because she had no children, either from an earlier marriage or with my relative.